
Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale
Sold for £62,500 inc. premium
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Provenance
Sale, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 28 October 1958, lot 478 (as attributed to Jan Massys)
Acquired by the present owner approximately 10 years ago
Literature
P.J.J. van Thiel, Cornelis van Haarlem, Doornspijk, 1999 p. 380, under cat. no. 222, version 2, ill. pl. 119
This composition was evidently popular, given the various versions that exist. The only difference between them is the object held by the central figure and in the present work an owl rests on her index finger. In the Netherlands at this time, the owl was a bird which stood for foolishness.